56 | APRIL 21 • 2022
ARTS&LIFE
FILM FESTIVAL
continued from page 54
history of his childhood home
and Nasielsk’s Jewish commu-
nity.
”
Kurtz’s work on the nonfic-
tion text ensued after Chandler’s
granddaughter Marcy Rosen
was directed to the three-min-
ute film through the web
browsing of friend Jeffrey
Widen. She recognized her
grandfather because of resem-
blances to relatives and got
in touch with Kurtz to thank
him for making the film pub-
lic through the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“Mine was the first in a series
of amazing steps, and that was
wonderful,
” Rosen said. “That’s
why the film is so special. It
takes this tiny piece and makes
it a little bit bigger. You can see
a little bit more into this world.
“I think it’s so often when we
are learning, studying or think-
ing about the Holocaust, we’re
seeing it from a very particular
angle. We look at everything
that was lost, and the film does
show us everything that was
taken away.
“We can also look at the
things we still have with these
little glimmers into Jewish life.
We can try to understand the
places that we came from and
contributions of people who are
nameless but helped preserve us
— like the woman who helped
save my grandfather.
”
Stigter approaches the film
from the viewpoints she holds
as a longtime historian and cul-
tural critic in the Netherlands.
“I always want to know what
it was like before — what was
there before,
” she said. “We
know what happened after-
wards.
”
In taking on this project,
Stigter also was affected because
the vacation film was in color.
“We tend to see the world
from before 1950 in black and
white,
” she said. “Here, you
suddenly see it in color, and
that made it very vivid for me.
I want viewers to understand
that the film [vividly] shows a
different world and a different
time as proof of what really
happened and then not to for-
get it.
”
As both an historian and
filmmaker traveling to festivals,
Stigter expresses concerns about
advancing technology distorting
film content such that movie
viewers can turn skeptical about
what they see or react to the
distortions that actually pro-
mote propaganda.
Chandler, who divides his
time between Michigan and
Florida, has been impressed
with Stigter’s persistence and
efforts in establishing the con-
tent for the film narrated by
Helena Bonham Carter, but as
one of the few Nasielsk surviv-
ers, he has a stronger overall
message.
“We have to think about
survival every day,” Chandler
said. “We have to look out for
the Jewish people.”
tation of Three Minutes: A
Lengthening, a documentary
with Detroiter connec-
tions to Poland before the
Holocaust. Famed filmmaker
Bianca Stigter, based in the
Netherlands, appears for
the showing and discussion
session that includes author
Glenn Kurtz, who wrote the
book Three Minutes in Poland:
Discovering a Lost World in a
1938 Family Film (see accom-
panying story).
Among the films filling out
the festival in theater are The
Levys of Monticello, about a
Jewish family that preserved
Thomas Jefferson’s home;
Tiger Within, about the friend-
ship shared by a Holocaust
survivor and homeless
teen; The Conductor, about a
woman breaking the orches-
tral glass ceiling; and One
More Story, about a skeptic’s
encounter with love.
The virtual presentations
include A Common Goal,
about Muslim members of
an Israeli soccer team, and
Love and Mazel Tov, about
romance amid comedic mis-
understandings.
Still shot from the film
The Conductor
Details
Three Minutes — A
Lengthening can be seen
at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 1,
in the Berman Center for
the Performing Arts at
the Jewish Community
Center in West
Bloomfield. $12. To buy
tickets, go to theberman.
org/on-sale. Masks are
required.
Maurice Chandler shares his story at Hillel Day School surrounded
by great-grandson Lev Eisenberg, granddaughter Marcy Rosen and
daughter Evelyn Rosen.
FILM FESITVAL continued from page 53
DETAILS
To get a full list and
synopsis of films,
go to jlive.app/
organizations/118. To buy
tickets, go to theberman.
org/on-sale/. Prices
range from $5 (virtual)
to $12 (in person). Masks
are required at the JCC.